Han Solo With Torture Rack - TAC - Basic (30 38)

Character Profile

Species

Human

Status

Reluctant Rebel hero

Weapon of Choice

Blaster pistol

Characteristic

Refuses to surrender

Han and his friends go to Bespin to escape the Empire, but Han's friend Lando turns them over to their enemy, Darth Vader. Strapped to a rack, Han is tortured with no idea why, telling Leia afterwards, "They never even asked me any questions."

One
thing that we couldn’t deny
in the 30
(77-07) line was the
size of the accessories and figures included
with the on a basic card back. And while
many of us took them for granted,
it was a great way to get additional “necessities” into
the toy line without paying an
extra premium for them or waiting
for them to make their way into
multipacks or other methods. Probably
the biggest surprise of the 2007
line was the Han Solo With Torture
Rack action figure set. It was the only figure
of the year to come with an accessory
significantly bigger than itself, but
the point of this basic figure
wasn’t Han Solo. It was all about the torture rack. With a realistic
design and incredibly authentic
detail, this is one basic figure
that shouldn’t be missed.
It is quite a sight to behold.
Figures from The Empire Strikes
Back weren’t that well represented
in the 30
(77-07) line but it
is evident that Hasbro made up
for this inequity by releasing
this awesome “basic” figure.
We use the term “basic” very
likely because this set could have
been very easily passed off as
a deluxe figure. Sometimes we need
to be mindful of these small blessings
because it is things like this
that makes collecting all the more
worthwhile.

As
we have just mentioned, the Han
Solo figure is not too exciting,
but it’s quite amazing how
awesome he looks when set in the
torture rack. But if you were to
look at the figure separately from
the whole, you would have a case
to make quite a few complaints.
In addition to a rather terrible
face sculpt, Han Solo suffers from
very skinny legs that are way too
close together. While he borrows legs
from the very awesome 2006 VTSC Han
Solo (In Trench Coat) figure, the inclusion of an all-new
torso has made the interaction of the two parts not work as well as they should have. The final result doesn't sit that well with us and looks rather clumsily assembled on this new figure.
And many of you will most likely
not prefer to have a Han Solo with
his shirt not nicely tucked into
his pants. Well, we have to give Hasbro
proper credit for leaving it unkempt
because just watch the movie, it
couldn’t be more perfect.
And we also bet that many will
miss Han Solo not coming with a
blaster. (But come on, he was “captured” at
this point and Darth Vader ripped
his gun right out of his hand using
the Force.) Again, this is a figure
that has been designed to function
in the torture rack. This basic figure is not all about Han Solo. And most importantly, this figure
should not fill the space in your collection as the official Han Solo (Bespin
Fatigues) vintage update.

We
couldn’t be more excited
for this torture rack. Expertly
crafted, nicely and simply painted
and completely functional with
the included Han Solo action figure,
the torture rack is such a comforting
and reassuring accessory that proves
to us that Hasbro can just about
do anything if they put their minds
to it. While it doesn’t light
up, Hasbro did include enough “orange
paint’ to simulate that the
machine is indeed alive and ready
to inflict some pain in out favorite
Rebel hero. The straps that hold
Han Solo into place only detach
from the rack on one side. (Be
sure to check which side is intended
to detach from the device because
you don’t want to damage
this awesome toy.) The torture
rack also has nice range of motion
to recreate the torturing process
Han Solo underwent in the film.
It is such a thrilling thing that
Hasbro was so inventive with so
many figures in the 30 (77-07) line. We won’t expect such
incredible “deluxe” basic
figures like this that often in
the line going forward. The tooling
costs clearly must be way too expensive
to make this a mainstay. This should
be reason enough to appreciate
them when they do get released
into the basic figure line. Han
Solo With Torture Rack is one of
the coolest figures of the 2007
line and while we clearly want
to explain that this isn’t
based on the merits of the Han
Solo action figure, but by the
torture rack and the interactive
combination of Han and the torture
rack alone.